The Children of Olympus: The Sands of Time
by paint my spirit gold
Summary: Meet Natalie Grace, daughter of Jason and Piper. When she and her siblings are suddenly whisked away to Camp Half-Blood, they soon are sent on a quest to find Chronos, Father Time himself. Who took him, and why? Rated 'T'. R&R please.


**Hey. This is my new story The Children of Olympus: The Sands of Time. Please enjoy and remember to review. Merci :)!**

**- GingerxWithxAxSoul**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO**

**Chapter 1:**

The cave was dark and damp, unlike anything I'd ever seen before. The man was chained to the walls with what appeared to be invisible chains. His glinting golden eyes gazed up and I could almost see time passing. He was thin and old, with a long, white beard. The sound of clinking metal filled the air in the cave and the man groaned in pain.

"STOP!" I screamed, not even knowing what or who I was screaming at.

A man's hideous laugh echoed throughout, and the chains clinked again. The old man screamed this time, and the other man laughed again.

"NOOO!" I roared, knowing that, for some reason, I had to defend the chained man.

Then, for some reason, the chained man reached out and began jostling me on the shoulders.

"Natalie!" he shouted, "NATALIE!"

"What, what I'm up…" I mumbled, my eyes flying open as I sat up in bed. My twin sister Kathryn sat on my bed leaning over me, frowning and shaking my shoulders.

"Natalie," she frowned, "Natalie, I've been trying to get you up for the past fifteen minutes! God, do you know you talk in your sleep?"

"I don't," I grumbled, climbing out of bed, "I just had a…vivid dream."

Kathryn rolled her eyes, "Come on Nat, the plane leaves in less than an hour! I'm gonna go get some breakfast, met 'ya downstairs" She slid off my bed and raced downstairs. I sighed and glanced around my room, since it was the last time I would see it until the fall, when Kathryn, Zach and I would get back from New York.

I still didn't get why Mom chose to move across the country after she and Dad got divorced. It just made things more complicated, which is saying a lot considering my parents are both famous. Seriously. My Dad has a jersey with 'Grace' on the back of it at Dick's Sporting Goods and almost everyone in America can see my mom. Just turn to NBC at 7 am on any morning.

Basically, the divorce had turned my life upside down. Since it was the middle of the school year, Mom and Dad had agreed that we kids would stay in L.A. with Dad through the school year, then spend Spring Break, Christmas Vacation and the whole summer with Mom in New York.

And today it had been two days since school had gotten out. So now we were going to New York for the summer.

"Hey, Nat," my brother Zach poked his head in my door, which was still open, "Could you give me your friend Jenna's email address? I think she likes me." He wiggled his eyebrows and I rolled my eyes.

"Fat chance," I snorted, "Jenna's already got a boyfriend. Besides, what makes you think she would like YOU?"

Zach shrugged and smirked, "Well maybe because I'm so hot. But whatever, I'll give her time to break-up with this guy THEN I'll make my move." He wiggled his eyebrows again.

"PLEASE," I groaned, "Just…Just don't bother. Jenna absolutely hates you. If you want to ask Kathryn, maybe…"

"Kathryn?" he raised an eyebrow, "Please. I'd rather just shoot myself in the foot. She'd never let me get close to her friends. There's NO WAY. Besides, none of her friends are as hot as Jenna."

I smirked, "Then that's precisely why you should ask."

Zach just stuck his tongue out at me and went back to his room. I grinned, happy to have won that particular battle, and closed my door, then locked it for good measure. You'd think that since Dad was a professional basketball player and we practically lived in a mansion that my siblings would have the decency to stay in their own rooms and out of mine. Apparently not.

I grabbed the clothes that I'd picked out the night before (a plain black tank top that was dusted with silver glitter and a pair of white jean shorts) and put them on. Then, I went down to the kitchen. Our housekeeper/chef/nanny, Rosie Gonzalez, was sliding some bacon and eggs onto Kathryn's plate, and Zach was gnawing on a bagel.

"Dad," I said, bewildered to see my dad was up at six am, sitting at the table with Zach and Kathryn, eating an egg-and-bagel sandwich, "You're actually up."

Dad grinned, "Hey, Nat, come on, just because I'm not home much doesn't mean I don't love you guys! I wanted to see you before you leave for NYC." He didn't look much like any of us, having blue eyes and blonde hair.

"Yeah," I said with a laugh, "See us before we go off into the dark clutches of Mom."

"Mom's not bad at all," Kathryn rolled her eyes, "Come on. And Dad doesn't think of her that way."

"That's right Kit Kat; I don't," Dad said, "But I just hope you guys don't forget that Rosie and I exist." He winked.

Rosie rolled her eyes, "That's code for, 'Be sure to call because I love you guys and I would die if I didn't get to talk with you all summer.'"

Dad laughed, "That's exactly right Rose."

We sat there, eating, for the next few minutes. I glanced at Kathryn and Zach and wondered what they thought about it. I myself wasn't too excited about the whole summer-in-New-York, school-year-in-L.A. thing. When I was with Dad, I felt like I was 'cheating' on Mom, and vice versa. I figured Kathryn and Zach felt the same way, but I couldn't be sure. Obviously I knew a bit more about what Kathryn felt, considering she was a girl too, and my twin sister at that, but I couldn't be sure.

Finally, Rosie, who had set down at the table with a plate of her own, glanced at the clock and nodded at us, "Kathryn, Natalie, Zach, you guys should go get ready. Your plane leaves in about an hour." Dad just gave us a sad look and didn't say anything. It hit me how much this must hurt him, and I couldn't imagine what it would be like for Mom…

"'Kay," Kathryn (who was the only one done eating at the moment) chirped, getting up and dumping her plate in the kitchen sink. I got up to dump my own plate a few minutes later and saw that Kathryn had eaten much less food than usual. I'd been noticing that more and more lately, and that worried me a little. Did Kathryn have anorexia, or was she truly just not hungry? If she DID have anorexia, then I needed to tell someone….

Its fine, I assured myself, Kathryn just isn't hungry, and besides, it's none of your business.

After I was done there, I went upstairs and lugged my suitcase down. I was sure to pack my diary (a gift from Mom and Dad) and my special zebra-print blanket that had been a gift to my mom at her baby shower for Kathryn and I. Kathryn had one just like it, in fact.

When I got down to our laundry room (where the entrance to the garage was) Dad was in there giving Kathryn and Zach each a hug and kiss.

He grinned when he saw me, "Hey Nat. Come here and give your old man a good-bye hug!"

I rolled my eyes at how lame my dad was and threw my arms around him. I loved Dad; he had worked so hard at making this a 'good divorce' (though in my mind there was no such thing).

"Have fun in New York, Natalie," Dad murmured, "I love you, Sweetie."

"Dad," Kathryn tugged on his sleeve, "We gotta get going."

"All right Kathryn, hold on. Now, Natalie, you be nice to your siblings, Kathryn, don't spend all of that money on makeup and Zach, don't get involved with any girls."

"Dad! But there are-" Zach sputtered. I had no doubt he would find himself a little lady-friend for the summer anyways.

"No buts, any of you. Be good to your mother, and I'll see you in the fall. I love you," And with that he gave us all one last hug and went back to the kitchen.

"We need to get to the airport," Rosie said softly, "You'll be late."

"Yeah," I agreed glumly, slipping on my gray Converse high-tops.

We all went out to the car, which Rosie had loaded with our suitcases. She handed us our plane tickets and reminded us not to loose them.

It took about twenty minutes to get to the airport, which was in the center of town. The ride was completely silent. I couldn't help but wish, so very badly, that the divorce had never happened. That I had to admit to my friends at school that I could do nothing with them over the summer. And if I made any friends in New York…I wouldn't see them for a year.

A sigh escaped my lips, and Rosie peered at me through the rearview mirror.

"What's wrong?" she said, cocking her head to the side.

"Nothing," I lied, "I just want to stay in L.A. I wish my parents hadn't gotten divorced."

Rosie gave me a weak smile, "Yeah, Sweetie, I do too. Believe me; I miss your mom much as you."

That was all we said. Kathryn was texting her friends, probably making plans for the beginning of the school year, when we were back. Zach was listening to his iPod, not even singing along, which was weird for him.

Finally, we arrived at the airport. We all hugged Rosie good-bye.

"I'll miss you guys," she said, smiling at us through the rolled-down car window after we'd gotten off.

Then, Rosie drove off and it was just Kathryn, Zach and I standing there.

I pulled my phone out, "Okay, so we have forty-five minutes before we have to go. Let's get our luggage checked." We walked inside and found the airline carrier we would be taking. We checked in all seven of our bags, which Dad thankfully gave us enough money to pay for.

Finally, we got through security, who questioned us heavily since we were so young, but Dad gave them a call and got us through all right.

"I'm hungry," Zach groaned after we'd passed through security, "Can we get something to eat?"

"We'll miss our flight," I grumbled, edging pass the crowd, "Besides, you had, like, six bagels at home."

"I'm still hungry," he whined, "Can you PLEASE check?"

"Sure," I sighed, pulling my iPod out of my carry-on bag. Sure enough, we had about thirty minutes 'till our flight left, "Okay, fine, we can stop-"

"Cinnabon!" Zach blurted.

I rolled my eyes, "Then Cinnabon it is."

"What if we're late…" Kathryn said softly, "I mean, is stopping for cinnamon rolls REALLY necessary?"

"Of course it is," Zach said rolling his eyes.

Now trust me, I was all about getting to the plane on time. But to be honest, Cinnabon cinnamon rolls sounded really good.

"We're stopping, like it or not," I said firmly. I heard Kathryn mutter something but didn't say anything.

We each got a cinnamon roll, plus a bucket of cinnamon roll sticks with dipping icing for the plane ride later.

About a half-hour later, we rushed up to the gate.

"Do you have your tickets?" I asked.

"Yup!" Kathryn grinned.

"Yeah," Zach shrugged.

I reached down and felt my ticket swimming in my pocket. Relief swept over me. If one of us had lost our ticket…Well, let's just say Dad would've been angry.

"Good," I murmured.

We then handed our tickets to the lady at the ticket podium.

She raised an eyebrow, "Are you kids here with your parents' permission?"

"Yeah," we all said at once.

The lady sighed, "Well, I'll give them a call. Just give me your phone number. Oh, and until then, please stay in the Gate."

I gave her dad's number, and he explained everything. I'll admit, the lady seemed a bit flustered to find that our dad was Jason Grace.

"Go right on through, and have a nice flight," she said smiling at us.

We quickly rushed through the tunnel to get onto the plane, considering it was almost take-off time.

"I hate planes," Kathryn sighed as we settled into our seats, "I can't use my iPod for five hours straight."

"I think you can text," I supplied, "But we won't be on here forever. We stop in St. Louis after a couple hours."

"Dad was too cheap to spring for a non-stop flight?" Zach rolled his eyes.

I shrugged, "Well, we'll be doing this for the next four or five years, you know. It's not like Dad wouldn't want to save money."

"But STILL!" Zach whined.

Kathryn groaned, "Can you two just please-"

The flight attendant's voice interrupted her. She was going over in-flight safety procedures.

This was going to a very long plane flight.

**Remember to review please :)**

**- GingerxWithxAxSoul**


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